For many gig-goers in the North East, 2008 has been the year they discovered Nathalie Stern.

It’s also the year that Nathalie Stern rediscovered her unique musical voice. Perhaps better known as one half of indie rockers Lake Me, Stern has spent the past couple of years finely honing her solo work – a voice, a delay pedal, a few bells and sometimes a guitar. Uncluttered as it is, it led the The Crack to ask, “can music be gently grandiose? This is!”

Critics have lazily titled her the “one-woman Swedish folk choir”, and she’s been the support act of choice to many discerning acts on the circuit.

At the Star and Shadow, Nathalie headlines for the first time as a solo artist, and as if to press home what exciting individual music she makes, she’s being supported not by other bands, but by a group of experimental film makers inspired by her work; including Owen Gilfellon, Mat Fleming, Karen Eliot, Brian Degger and Arto Polus.

Nathalie’s work is grounded in (but not chained down by) Swedish folk music, the vocal experiments of Bjork’s Medulla album, and the traditional Polish accordian songs played by her father.

Her work eschews traditional rock structures, and is a must for fans of Camille, Värttinä, Bjork and Juana Molina.